City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Jarred Desrocher was so open, he could have taken a good look at his watch, if he were wearing one.

Instead, the Downingtown East senior set his feet, took a breath, and squared away.

His 3-point shot from the right wing off a beautiful cross-court pass from Andres Mujica found nothing but net, and the Cougars were on their way to the most meaningful win of Desrocher’s time in high school.

“Right when I hit it, I think everyone turned up a notch,” he said, “and we were just unbeatable.”

The 44-34 victory over Downingtown West didn’t just break a string of five losses to the intra-district rival, it served as a measure of validation for a program that’s still looking to make its mark on the area’s hoops scene.

For the first time in five years under head coach John Goodman, Downingtown East is 4-0 to begin the season. For the first time, Goodman saw his team win its conference opener.

Considering the the program hasn’t ever won a district tournament game, it’s on the short list of most important wins in Downingtown East basketball history, since the district split in half in 2003.

And it’s only Dec. 15.

“It’s just weird because it’s still early in the season,” Goodman said. “We definitely want to enjoy it -- our aspirations are bigger, but for us, it was a long time coming.

"We haven’t really been keeping up our half of the rivalry, so it was good to get this one," he added.

Energized by his key triple, which pushed the Cougars’ lead over the Whippets to nine points with 6:38 remaining, Desrocher finished the game strong. The 6-2 guard made it a double-digit game on the next possession down with a strong right-handed take, and added another layup later in the quarter to keep Downingtown West at bay.

On the other end of the floor, he came up with a leaping steal past the four-minute mark, and had a few rebounds down the stretch as well.

“I was feeling unstoppable,” he said. “I felt like I could stop anyone, no one could stop me.”

Desrocher finished with nine points, all coming in the second half.

“I thought he started slow, but give him credit, he bounced right back, stayed engaged when he was on the bench, came in and just made some plays,” Goodman said. “Big shot, a couple of really good takes to the rim and I thought his defensive rebounding was a big difference for us.”

Malik Slay led Downingtown East (4-0, 1-0 Ches-Mont) with 17 points, continuing a strong start to the season for the junior guard. Slay was 7-of-11 from the floor, and came up with a few nice assists as well, including an alley-oop slam to freshman forward Andrew King (8 points).

Slay’s ability to put the ball in the hoop through with regularity has been a crucial part to the Cougars’ strong start to the season.

“It’s great to see him do it on a bigger stage, because he’s been doing it all summer and fall, but to be able to do it now, December, against your rival, in your gym, it’s what we expect,” Goodman said. “He’s really tough to cover.”

Slay gave East a ton of momentum heading into the locker rooms at halftime, finishing off a 14-5 second quarter for the Cougars with a driving floater which hit the back of the rim and seemed to hover above the bucket before dropping through as a whistle sounded. Though he missed the foul shot and opportunity for a 3-point play, there’s no denying the boost that came from going into the break up 19-16.

“I think that gave me confidence and gave my team confidence,” Slay said. “Because they feed off me and my energy most of the time, that’s what my coaches tell me, and I think that helped us a lot.”

Matt Carson led Downingtown West (1-2, 0-1 Ches-Mont) with 11 points, hitting a trio of 3-pointers on the night. Fellow senior George Gordon, an Ursinus commit, added 10 points and five rebounds.

The Whippets were in control early, scoring seven of the game's first eight points. It was 11-5 West after one quarter, but East senior forward Ryan Cahill (5 points, 9 rebounds) had two buckets early in the second to start to push the momentum back in the home team's favor.

Not much changed in the third quarter, which ended with East up 31-27. But it didn't take long into the fourth for the Cougars to create that distance, and West couldn't hit shots to create a comeback down the stretch.

So it's Downingtown East, not West, which stands atop the Ches-Mont National standings for the first time since anybody on the roster has been at the school.

“For now, it’s the biggest win," Slay said. "For now."